Ilmaria

Ilmaria, officially known as the New Halcyon of the Ilmaria Free State, is a very small, very young country located on an entirely man-made landmass inside the eastern gulf of Shinzen. Its capital, Avalon, is the colossal building in the center of the country that vertically connects the land.

Being less than half a century old, Ilmaria has very little history to fall back on, but has already made history globally several times by being the first man-made landmass of its kind, the largest construction project ever undertaken, the first country to achieve a nationwide negative carbon footprint, and the home of numerous groundbreaking inventions and innovations. Not only that, but Ilmaria has also quickly become a post-industrial economic powerhouse, providing countless services for the rest of the world.

It is believed by many to be the first time in history that true utopia has been achieved, but many citizens of Ilmaria will debate that, stating that despite the incredible reality of a country that provides its citizens with everything they need to survive free of charge, the true cost is immense and unseen oppression and exploitation. These claims continue to be dismissed by most unaffected people and remain unproven on the international stage.

11K is headquartered in Avalon, the corporation also acting as the national government. A small but elite private military is maintained by 11K for defense and national security purposes exclusively, alongside defense contracts with both Shinzen and Ustonia to deter and repel any potential attempts at invasion.

History¶

TBD

Geography¶

As an entirely man-made landmass, Ilmaria has an almost entirely urban topography. It is most famously known for its two-tiered structure, with nearly half the area of the country being elevated 40 stories, and for the colossal building in the center of the nation that reaches from the very bottom of the landmass to 3.22 kilometers (2 miles) above sea level. There are dense forests along the lower edge of the country with plenty of flora and fauna carefully maintained throughout the rest of the country, with heavy usage of hydroponics. The climate is tropical and experiences the same seasonal effects as the natural land surrounding the country.

Government & Politics¶

Ilmaria is an oligarchy run by only a small handful of elite 11K employees. Originally installed by both Ustonia and Shinzen during the formation of the country, many of the original leaders have either been replaced or forced out behind the scenes, both to decrease the number of people sharing power and so 11K could monopolize the total influence to themselves.

Administrative divisions¶

Ilmaria is divided in two vertical tiers of land, each governed independently. The lower level, Nova, is an incredibly dense city accounting for over 70% of the population, most being laborers living in near-poverty with extremely limited contact to the outside world. The upper level, Ventura, is a spacious and beautiful utopia populated almost exclusively by the wealthy and privileged, and is typically the only part of Ilmaria that the people of the world have any real awareness of. The colossal building in the center of the nation known as Avalon is a third independently governed region, serving as the national capital, albeit with a fraction of the population of Ventura.

Military¶

The military force of Ilmaria is a national guard comprised entirely of a privatized force controlled by 11K. They are equipped with cutting edge technology imported from both Shinzen and Ustonia and receive world class defense training, making them quite formidable to fight against in their home country but too small to have effective offensive capability. They are primarily trained to defend key points of the country, such as its structure, power generation, vital production, and so on.

Further bolstering the defensive capability of the nation are defense contracts with both Shinzen and Ustonia, effectively giving Ilmaria the defensive strength of two global superpowers. It also conveniently functions as an insurance policy to prevent either Shinzen or Ustonia from attempting to claim control over the country, as neither is willing to fight the other.

Foreign relations¶

Economy¶

The Ilmarian economy is worth 1.76 quadrillion CR per year with an expenditure of 13.6%, which is distributed as follows.

• Administration: 13.1%
• Defense: 4.9%
• Education & Science: 19.5%
• Energy & Environment: 3.6%
• Food & Agriculture: 4.2%
• Healthcare: 17.1%
• Industry: 4.2%
• International Affairs: 2.4%
• Law & Order: 4.1%
• Social Policy: 4.9%
• Transportation: 12.2%
• Welfare: 9.8%

The income tax rate is a flat 11.6%. To supplement this by utilizing the power of the almost entirely automatic tax system, a variable sales tax ranging from 0% to 100% is applied to purchases as deemed necessary by the system’s algorithms, depending primarily on the income and assets of the buyer, and all interest or dividends generated by liquid assets are automatically taxed by up to 50% depending on wealth. Additionally, every transaction is rounded up to the next zero after tax is added, with the difference also being collected. The gap between the richest and the poorest citizens is unfathomably large.

Businesses are entirely privatized and enjoy extremely lax regulations in exchange for moderately high corporate taxes, while entrepreneurial individuals are given the opposite arrangement with very low taxes but moderately restrictive regulation.

Since 11K acts as the central government of Ilmaria, the goods and services of 11K are all counted as the overwhelming majority of national exports, primarily in the information technology sector. Ilmaria applies import tariffs ranging between 0.5% and 18% depending on the goods, and from where they were imported, on top of the standard Yulentian Trade Union tariff of 1% on luxuries from within the union, and 4% outside of it.

Demographics¶

Ilmaria is the second most welcoming towards spirits, second only to Alastor. There is no systemic discrimination whatsoever beyond simple identification, and societal discrimination is rare to see and minimal in effect, mostly coming in the form of innocent fascination from people who have never seen a spirit before.

Spirit population according to state records: 804,434

• Cat: 503,252
• Wolf: 3,104
• Mouse: 11,637
• Deer: 4,146
• Chameleon: 5,230
• Shark: 1,224
• Crow: 302
• Fox: 503
• Others: 275,036

Education¶

Education in Ilmaria is universal and entirely free of charge for all people in the country, regardless of status, while also being entirely privatized. All schools are privately owned and operated, and receive compensation at fair market rates through Ilmaria’s automated tax system. These schools are permitted to set their own curriculums, methods, and schedules, provided they produce satisfactory results in annual standardized testing. Most schools in Ventura place disproportionate focus on science and art related courses, while most schools in Nova place disproportionate focus on work ethic and practical skills for entry level employment.

The Ilmarian educational system produces average results, with 4th, 8th, and 12th grade students consistently being ranked 5th in international test score surveys.

Health¶

Healthcare in Ilmaria is universal and entirely free of charge for all people in the country, regardless of status, while also being entirely privatized. All hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and so on are privately owned and operated, and receive compensation at the fair market rate through Ilmaria’s automated tax system. These facilities are some of the best equipped in the world with extremely well trained doctors and surgeons in high supply.

Despite the apparent quality of the medical services offered in Ilmaria, the overall health of Ilmarian citizens is average. Residents of Ventura receive world-leading preventative care, but residents of Nova receive only reactionary care in response to symptoms and injuries.

Culture¶

TBD

See also¶

World military balance (Meta)

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